Castabroad - New Zealand

Castabroad photo

Photo & Story : Craig Somerville

NewZealand

diary From

NewZealand

New Zealand as a destination

A dream dreamt by fly fishers world-wide where fish are wild, flawless, large and plentiful was shared too by me.

Turquoise Pools full of dreams

The idea of New Zealand infected me as a boy growing up in bonny Scotland and when the time came to drop everything and take the plunge I was fishing rivers like the Greenstone & Tongariro but also able to fish limitless waterways on one single cheap annual fishing licence.

Before I knew it I was living here, setting up a heli-fly fishing business, buying a house, meeting the girl of my dreams(who also fly fishes) having a baby‌ living the dream!.

“It isn’t exactly a 9 - 5 life”

You could say that expectations were exceeded. Castabroad ensures these expectations of international fly fishers are met and exceeded. Careful, you may not ever want to leave, believe me!

New Zealand Weather

Four distinct seasons quite evenly spread over the year, though sometimes those seasons can converge on a single day.

In summer November-March temps rise to mid 30’s Celcius and winter can drop to as low as -10 on occasion. This pattern spans both Islands North and South though the North Island is the more tropical of the two.

The South being a little more temperate is lessly populated but has arguably more fly fishing opportunities related to the weather difference - I have not made up my mind which I prefer.

A cold South wind from the Antarctic is regularly interupted by warm North winds.

A thinner than usual area of the ozone layer lies over NZ so the suns rays are far more intense than that of the rest of the planet meaning a careful attention to headwear and sun screen is a must.

Gradual snow melt and in some areas glacial melt keeps the rivers flowing through the summer and speradic rainfall saturates the basins every so often to keep things fresh and the country as green as it is.

Good or bad weather, there’s always somewhere good to fish.

Fishing in January

One word – “Cicada” When driving through the rainforests of the South Island’s West Coast and through to Wanaka even with the windows closed you can hear the millions of cicadas singing in every tree you pass like formula one cars would scream by a microphone cicuit-side. These alien creatures replicted as a fly on the end of your fishing line prove for some of the best fishing I’ve ever experienced. There is nothing quite like throwing big terrestrial flies at big trout!!!

Getting hungry for some New Zealand fly fishing dreams?

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Thanks to Pool 32 Mag